Chelsea (H) Saturday 21st September 12:30pm live on TNT
It will be 1 year, 1 month and 1 day since Chelsea's last visit to the London Stadium when we managed to win 3-1 despite Enzo Fernandez missing a penalty when it was 1-1 and playing the last 25 minutes with 10 men thanks to Aguerd's 2nd yellow. A little less drama would be welcome
At Chelsea its another season, another new manager but some things remain unchanged; the size of their squad and their ability to collect yellow cards.
They topped the Premier League with 105 last season and are off to a good start with 16 so far, way ahead of Bournemouth and Man Utd on 12 each
Maresca has been pretty consistent with his starting XI although injury has forced a few changes.
Robert Sánchez has kept his place between the sticks although Chelsea did add two more goalkeepers in the summer (they have four in the EPL squad)
At the back Fofana, Colwill and Cucarella have started all four games but RB is a bit of a problem. Reece James is injured again and isn't expected back until after the next international break so Malo Gusto was in the starting XI for three games before he suffered a thigh injury with the French U21s.
CB Axei Diasai started RB against Bournemouth (he played there a few times last season) but was replaced after an hour by CB Tosin Adarabioyo, signed on a free from Fulham.
Benoît Badiashile has only played in the Europa Conference League playoffs so far and while Ben Chilwell has been included in the EPL squad he still hasn't been seen anywhere near a pitch
In the midfield Romeo Lavia is also injured again after two games, bringing his total appearances in a blue shirt to three for 105 minutes since joining from Southampton for £58m. In Lavia's absence Maresca moved Fernandez alongside Moises Caicedo rather than play Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, signed from Leicester for £30m.
Both Fernandez and Dewsbury-Hall were ill last weekend so 21yo Renato Viega, a LB signed from FC Basel for £11.8m, was preferred to either Cesare Casadei (11 appearances last season) or Carney Chukwuemeka (12 appearances last season)
Up front Cole Palmer has started all four games, Noni Madueke the last three and star summer signing Pedro Neto (Wolves, £54m) the last two although he was replaced by Jadon Sancho at half time against Bournemouth.
Second biggest signing of the summer Joao Felix, £46.3m from Atletico Madrid, has been restricted to three substitute appearances while Mykhailo Mudryk has been relegated to the bench
Nicolas Jackson is still preferred as starting striker although Christopher Nkunku replaced him against Bournemouth after 79 minutes and scored the winner with an assist from Sancho
At Chelsea its another season, another new manager but some things remain unchanged; the size of their squad and their ability to collect yellow cards.
They topped the Premier League with 105 last season and are off to a good start with 16 so far, way ahead of Bournemouth and Man Utd on 12 each
Maresca has been pretty consistent with his starting XI although injury has forced a few changes.
Robert Sánchez has kept his place between the sticks although Chelsea did add two more goalkeepers in the summer (they have four in the EPL squad)
At the back Fofana, Colwill and Cucarella have started all four games but RB is a bit of a problem. Reece James is injured again and isn't expected back until after the next international break so Malo Gusto was in the starting XI for three games before he suffered a thigh injury with the French U21s.
CB Axei Diasai started RB against Bournemouth (he played there a few times last season) but was replaced after an hour by CB Tosin Adarabioyo, signed on a free from Fulham.
Benoît Badiashile has only played in the Europa Conference League playoffs so far and while Ben Chilwell has been included in the EPL squad he still hasn't been seen anywhere near a pitch
In the midfield Romeo Lavia is also injured again after two games, bringing his total appearances in a blue shirt to three for 105 minutes since joining from Southampton for £58m. In Lavia's absence Maresca moved Fernandez alongside Moises Caicedo rather than play Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, signed from Leicester for £30m.
Both Fernandez and Dewsbury-Hall were ill last weekend so 21yo Renato Viega, a LB signed from FC Basel for £11.8m, was preferred to either Cesare Casadei (11 appearances last season) or Carney Chukwuemeka (12 appearances last season)
Up front Cole Palmer has started all four games, Noni Madueke the last three and star summer signing Pedro Neto (Wolves, £54m) the last two although he was replaced by Jadon Sancho at half time against Bournemouth.
Second biggest signing of the summer Joao Felix, £46.3m from Atletico Madrid, has been restricted to three substitute appearances while Mykhailo Mudryk has been relegated to the bench
Nicolas Jackson is still preferred as starting striker although Christopher Nkunku replaced him against Bournemouth after 79 minutes and scored the winner with an assist from Sancho
Comments
Feisty one’s they are!
Wan-Bissaka - Todibo - Kilman - Emerson
Soler - Álvarez - Paquetá
Kudus - Bowen - Summerville
Fabiański, Mavropanos, Coufal, Cresswell, Rodríguez, Souček, Antonio, Füllkrug, Ings (or Irving if Füllkrug not available).
Coufal for Emerson if he is out. I am half tempted to start Ings & give him a run in a side more suited to his style.
I think Kudus might be a bit too much for whoever they play at right back
Noticed that when they took Diasai off and brought Adarabioyo on it they moved Fofana wide to play RB
Assuming Emerson is out
Areola
Coufal - Todibo - Kilman - AWB
???? - Alvarez - ????
Kudus - Bowen - ????
Fill in the blanks
Paqueta or Summerville for the wing
Paqueta, Soler, Guido or Soucek alongside Alvarez
But Antonio out the XI is the right direction, that's one thing I wanna see at the bare minimum
"The news is that we're trying to recover all the players, but we need to wait until tomorrow to know more.
Emerson didn't pick up a big knock [against Fulham], but we have to review everything before we know for sure. Let's see tomorrow."
Hopefully Emerson is OK to play; Coufal got caught out a couple of times within minutes of coming on against Fulham, so I'd rather he isn't starting.
Mavropanos hasn't started the season too badly, so kinda understandable that Todibo didn't start at the weekend (before that he clearly wasn't match fit). However, he didn't have a great game against Fulham imo, so hopefully J-Lo sees this as a good time to give Todibo his first PL start.
Surely Antonio's time in the starting XI is up for the time being, and with Füllkrug likely still out then Bowen has to start up top. Alvarez and Rodriguez both start for me, and I think Paqueta does too. Then I think it's a question of Soucek or Summerville; I'd prefer the latter but I wouldn't be surprised to see the former.
What I think we'll see:
Areola
AWB Todibo Kilman Emerson
Soucek Rodriguez Alvarez
Kudus Bowen Paqueta
What I'd prefer:
Areola
AWB Todibo Kilman Emerson
Alvarez Rodriguez Paqueta
Kudus Bowen Summerville
On the bench rather than a starter?
Sanchez
Disasi Fofana Colwill Cucarella
Caicedo Fernandez
Madueke Palmer Sancho
Jackson
or
Sanchez
Fofana Adarabioyo Colwill Cucarella
Caicedo Fernandez
Madueke Palmer Sancho
Jackson
Whoever they play at RB they're going to have a 'mare of an afternoon trying to cope with Kudus or whoever we stick on the left
Hi ho, hi ho. If you're on the Central line keep a eye out for train 064 before 11:25am and 115 from 1:04pm until 3:16pm (not a bad shift for a Saturday)
Areola, Wan-Bissaka, Mavropanos, Kilman, Emerson, Rodríguez, Álvarez, Paquetá, Kudus, Summerville, Bowen ©
Subs: Fabiański (GK), Coufal, Cresswell, Todibo, Soler, Irving, Souček, Antonio, Ings
There is ability in the squad but their is 0 IQ amongst them as footballers.